Mary Staes

Mary Staes is Digital Content Lead for Very Local. She works with our freelancers and crafts content for our social media platforms and website. Before Very Local, she worked with CBS affiliate WWL-TV as a web producer and weekend assignment editor for about 4 years. She has also handled broadcast coverage for 160 Marine Reserve training facilities while she served as an active duty Marine. As a native New Orleanian, she takes being "very local" to heart. She loves being intertwined with the culture and figuring out how there are less than two degrees of separation between us all, whether we're natives or not.

Don’t cop out: you can still lose weight and eat well in New Orleans

By Mary Staes / January 16, 2019

So the holidays came, and you ate like crazy. Now we’re in the middle of king cake season, and you’re trying to figure figure out how to fit in that gown or tux for your Carnival balls.

Have your cake, and drink it, too: the history behind Lucky Player’s original king cake vodka

By Mary Staes / January 15, 2019

Lucky Player Vodka, based out of Miami, dropped the original king cake liquor as part of its original lineup when it launched in 2012.

You’ve got these bags of old Mardi Gras beads – now what?

By Mary Staes / January 10, 2019

Now that the fun is over, what are you going to do with these bags of beads just laying around the house?

Need somewhere to watch the Saints game? Here are some of the best neighborhood bars

By Mary Staes / January 10, 2019

Here’s a list of places we love to watch the Saints games at, where the drinks flow and the atmosphere is almost as good as being in the Dome.

Weekend Picks: The Battle of New Orleans… in the Dome

By Mary Staes / January 9, 2019

This week’s picks include remembering history with the Battle of New Orleans and gearing up to make history again with the Saints!

Ruby Slipper offers free meals to federal employees, families affected by government shutdown

By Mary Staes / January 8, 2019

A representative from the restaurant said it’s their way of giving back to the community that’s been so supportive to them.

Know Your NOLA: Magazine Street mirror house offers the perfect chance to #ReflectYourself

By Mary Staes / January 7, 2019

A tiny house on Magazine Street pulls you in with reflections of yourself and the world around you.

We went to the Trolley Stop post-Gordon Ramsay makeover

By Mary Staes / January 4, 2019

Ramsay shredded it and then gave it a makeover. How is it now? We checked it out for you.

These are the red light traffic cameras that are still on in New Orleans

By Mary Staes / January 4, 2019

The city is continuing to look for school zone locations where the deactivated cameras can be moved.

We watched Gordon Ramsay rip Trolley Stop to bits, and we have questions

By Mary Staes / January 3, 2019

Really, does anyone order nachos at Trolley Stop?